Rwanda Has Revised Tourist Visa Fees
Effective today in Rwanda new Visa fees come into effect with tourists entering Rwanda now required to pay either 35 UK Pounds, 45 Euros or 50 US Dollars respectively. Transit Visa are reportedly pegged at 20 UK Pounds, 27 Euros or 30 US Dollars. The common East African Tourist Visa remains at $100 per person, giving access to all three participating countries, namely Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya, while Tanzania remains outside this arrangement though under pressure from the tourism sector to join the scheme to increase tourist arrivals.

US Government Approves First Private Company To Venture Beyond Earth’s Orbit
The US Government has made a historic ruling to allow the first private enterprise, Moon Express, Inc (MoonEx), permission to travel beyond Earth’s orbit and land on the Moon in 2017. This breakthrough US policy decision provides authorization to Moon Express for a maiden flight of its robotic spacecraft onto the Moon’s surface, beginning a new era of ongoing commercial lunar exploration and discovery, unlocking the immense potential of the Moon’s valuable resources. Yesterday, Moon Express received the green light for pursuing its 2017 lunar mission following in depth consultations with the FAA, the White House, the State Department, NASA and other federal agencies. Up until now all commercial companies have been limited to operations in Earth’s orbit, and only governments have sent missions to other worlds. With this landmark ruling, Moon Express has become the first private company approved to literally go out of this world as a pioneer of commercial space missions beyond Earth’s orbit.

A Smithsonian Channel Special Will Chronicle The Queen Mary’s History
‘Mighty Ship At War: The Queen Mary,’ is a new one-hour special timed to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the ocean liner’s maiden voyage. It will premiere Aug. 21 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. Bigger and more powerful than the Titanic, and faster than any other ship in her class, Queen Mary is the last survivor of the golden age of ocean liners. Built by master craftsmen in Scotland shipyards, she helped drag a nation from the depths of the Great Depression and set sail as a symbol of new hope and a better future. She played a critical role during World War II, ferrying troops and Winston Churchill across the Atlantic. After nearly 4 million miles sailed in 31 years, Queen Mary was retired to Long Beach, California, where she’s drawn more than 50 million visitors since 1970. The documentary is timed to the 80th anniversary of Queen Mary’s maiden voyage.

Clinton And Trump Go “Head-To-Head” At Madame Tussauds Washington, DC
Madame Tussauds DC has released the first image featuring the clay-head sculpts of the Republican and Democratic Presidential nominees, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. In keeping with tradition, the wax attraction located in the heart of the nation’s capital will create a wax figure of the 45th president just in time for inauguration. In an election already filled with historic firsts, this year marks the first time in the famed attraction’s history that the creation of the presidential clay head sculpts began before their respective political parties officially announced their nominees. The 2016 election is breaking more than one record for the wax attraction; this is also the first time that both presidential candidates have previously been immortalized by Madame Tussauds artists. Once the Presidency is decided on November 8th, Madame Tussauds’ studio artists will use the clay head sculpt of the winning candidate to complete the elected figure in time for Inauguration Day.

Dubai Will Be Opening The Ultimate Theme Park In October
The park is located on Shaikh Zayed Road, opposite Palm Jebel Ali and the integrated theme park covers an area of 25 million square feet. There will be three theme parks, one waterpark, a [Polynesian themed] hotel, a retail and dining district, all in walking distance from each other. The Dh10.5 billion project, the first of its kind in the Middle East, consists of three main theme parks: Motiongate Dubai, Bollywood Parks Dubai and Legoland Dubai. Lego City is the largest of the six themed areas of lego Land. You will have a driving school and a boating school, where children can experience driving a car or steering a boat all by themselves. The Hollywood theme park Motiongate alone is divided into five zones, including Studio central, Sony Pictures Studios, Smurfs Village, Dreamworks and Lionsgate, in addition to a 1,000 seat multipurpose venue.

FAA Requires Airlines To Refund Fees For Delayed Bags
There is no way to ensure that a checked bag will get to the final destination when you do. It’s a risk we all take, but now the FAA is make sure you won’t have to pay for the inconvenience. A new law makes it mandatory for airlines to refund baggage fees for delayed bags. Specifically, airlines must refund baggage fees automatically if luggage is delayed 12 hours after a domestic flight arrival or 15 hours after an international flight. President Obama signed the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act of 2016 extension bill into law on July 15. The extension will be in effect immediately until Sept. 30, 2017.

Crystal River Cruises Redesigning 2 New Builds For German/Austrian Rivers

Based on guest feedback following the launch of the Crystal Mozart on the Seine this summer, Crystal River Cruises has elected to delay its entrance into the French river cruise market, choosing instead to prioritize its offerings on the Danube, Main and Rhine Rivers in 2017 & 2018. Previously, Crystal Debussy and Crystal Ravel were to travel along the Seine, Rhone and Dordogne Rivers in France beginning in June and August, 2017 respectively. The line will be deploying 4 of its planned new build river yachts in the German, Austrian, Belgian and Dutch regions over the next 2 years. The shift in focus means redesigning and enlarging the 2 Paris-Class river yachts, Crystal Debussy and Crystal Ravel, as Rhine-Class river yachts, and redeploying them east in 2018.

JetBlue To Be First US Airline To Cuba
JetBlue will launch scheduled commercial flights from the United States to Cuba on August 31, ahead of competitors that have also announced departure dates. US travel to Cuba has been expensive and complicated. Given a US ban on tourism to the Caribbean island, most Americans could visit only as part of a group tour. Even when travel rules were eased earlier this year, allowing Americans to travel independently to Cuba for educational, cultural and other approved purposes, they still had to travel on charter flights. Starting August 31, JetBlue will launch three times weekly flights between Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport and Santa Clara Airport. The airline will upgrade this service to daily from October 1, also offering daily flights from Fort Lauderdale to Camaguey from November 3 and to Holguin from November 10.

Cambodia official code of conduct for Angkor Wat

The Cambodian authorities have issued an official code of conduct for visitors to Angkor Wat and other religious sites regarding dress code; visitors should not wear skirts or shorts above the knee or tops that reveal bare shoulders; visitors not following the dress code are liable to be refused admission to the sites; New rules have been announced to increase the daily overstay fine from $5 to $10 and to refuse applications for visa extensions from those who have overstayed their visa validity by over 30 days; these rules haven’t yet been implemented and no date for their implementation has been set